Capacity and leadership development for wildlife conservation in sub-Saharan Africa: assessment of a programme linking training and mentorship

Abstract

As threats facing wildlife and protected areas across Africa increase, demand for innovative and transformational leadership to tackle the challenges remains high. Traditional academic training programmes are playing a critical role in meeting capacity development needs, yet opportunities for strengthening leadership capabilities are limited. This was the rationale behind Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource conservation (MENTOR), initiated in 2007 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through a collaborative effort with various partners to support conservation leadership and capacity development across sub-Saharan Africa. Five independent programmes were implemented over a decade, each designed to combine rigorous academic and field-based training with mentoring and experiential learning for teams of 8–9 fellows selected through a competitive process. It was envisioned that this approach to leadership and capacity development would strengthen the resolve, capabilities and competences of the fellows and position them as conservation leaders. Using data from interviews and online surveys, we assessed three key aspects of the programmes: strategic relevance and design; progress, effectiveness and impact; and sustainability. Overall, we found that all five programmes successfully delivered the objective of strengthening leadership for conservation in Africa, with the cadre of professionals acquiring new skills and expertise to advance their careers, and developing life-long relationships and networks. We discuss the potential of this approach for developing African conservation leaders.

Donor perspectives on strengthening capacity development for conservation

“…The Capacity Building for Conservation Conference series (in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) has been an important first step in this process. This conference series has resulted in numerous outcomes, such as new collaborations, new funding relationships, improved communication, as well as the articles comprising this special theme in Oryx focused on conservation capacity development (Appleton et al, 2021; Sandbrook et al, 2021; Sterling et al, 2021; Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022; Bruyere et al, 2022; Campagnaro et al, 2022; Chao et al, 2022; Gerrie et al, 2022; Loffeld et al, 2022a,b; O'Connell et al, 2022; Porzecanski et al, 2022).…”

Mentoring in the young water professionals' training program: Lessons for effective capacity development

“…The sustainability and effectiveness of mentoring are critical, and this needs to be included in the design of capacity development programs for YWPs. In practice, mentees may change employers, or their roles may change, but transdisciplinarity mentoring programs based on team building, professional networking and relationship are more likely to endure (Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022).…”

Capacity development for conservation

“…This will also require diverse, effective and resilient leaders (Sandbrook et al, 2021; Webb et al ., 2021). These individuals and their institutions need both technical and functional capacities, but these leaders will also require less tangible skills such as being relational and reflective, trust-building, visioning and problem-solving (Black, 2021; Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022; Campagnaro et al, 2022; Loffeld et al, 2022b). Removing barriers, such as budget, language and location, to accessing relevant learning activities is an important consideration (Chao et al ., 2022).…”

“…These have been shown to promote supportive practice that can encourage application of skills and knowledge within learning communities (Bruyere et al, 2022) and enable innovation and upscaling. A number of established conservation leadership development programmes have found that experiential learning opportunities combined with peer network development are effective (Sandbrook et al, 2021; Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022). Additionally, creating safe spaces for peer-supported learning and development helps practitioners build resilience, experiment with a wider range of approaches, accept and learn from failure, and enhance creativity and innovation (Dickson et al, 2022; Loffeld et al, 2022a).…”